TISDALE 鈥� Communities show they are strongest when faced with challenges.
Paige Friswell was six months old when her mother, Kaylynn Friswell, took her in to see a doctor for an eye exam. She had a lazy eye and mom was concerned.
They did an eye exam for her, said there is nothing they could do for a lazy eye at this age and told her to come back in a month to see how the eye is.
A month later, Kaylynn was told they wouldn鈥檛 do anything for her lazy eye until she stopped using her eye all together. But they offered her a second opinion, so the doctor referred her to the Saskatoon Eye Surgeons.
鈥淚 think she took a look on my face, as in, 鈥榣et鈥檚 get a second opinion鈥�,鈥� Kaylynn said.
She was booked in for September.
鈥淥n Sept. 25 I noticed that Paige鈥檚 right eye changed colour from blue to brown. We were booked in at Dr. Vasudha Erraguntla鈥檚 office for the following day on Sept. 26.聽 When we got to our appointment at Dr. Vasudha Erraguntla鈥檚 office, the assistant was doing all of her testing and examining. The assistant said that we would just patch the good eye [left eye] for an hour a day to strengthen the right eye.鈥�
The assistant put a patch on Paige鈥檚 left eye and Paige freaked right out and ripped the eye patch off immediately.聽 The assistant then put the patch on Paige鈥檚 right eye and she didn鈥檛 react to it.聽 This led the assistant to do further testing and noticed that when she shone a light or took a picture of Paige鈥檚 eyes her left eye had the red reflection and the right eye had a white reflection.聽 The assistant immediately took this information to Dr. Vasudha Erraguntla who then saw her straight away.
Erraguntla explained that she wanted to perform an MRI right away to see what was wrong with Paige鈥檚 eye and to rule out cancer, as Paige鈥檚 paternal grandmother died from brain cancer. They went back home that day, but on their way back home they got a phone call that Erraguntla wanted to see Paige in her office the next day for further testing.
鈥淭hey kind of somewhat warned me we could be back right away. So I was still in the process of, 鈥榦kay, let鈥檚 get the next steps going,鈥欌�� Kaylynn said.
At the end of the second day of testing, they asked Paige鈥檚 family to stay in Saskatoon overnight as they wanted to perform the MRI the following day.
Come the next day, they weren鈥檛 able to fit Paige in for an MRI but Dr. Ravi Nrusimhadevara, who works in the same office as Erraguntla, was able to fit Paige in for an ultrasound.
Through the ultrasound Nrusimhadevara didn鈥檛 notice any calcification in or around Paige鈥檚 eye, so he didn鈥檛 think there was large concern for cancer 鈥� but ultrasound findings also solidified the need for an MRI. He could not tell exactly what was going on with Paige鈥檚 eye until he saw the MRI report.
The MRI report showed that Paige has a detached retina. Paige would need surgery to fix it, but they wouldn鈥檛 perform it in the province as she was only 10 months old and they wouldn鈥檛 put her under general anesthesia.聽聽聽
聽鈥淲e鈥檙e going to go to the next doctor and have that surgery happen no matter where we have to go,鈥� Kaylynn said.
The problem was they would have to go to Edmonton, something the family couldn鈥檛 afford.
鈥淲hen we went to Edmonton we had to stay in a hotel, because Ronald McDonald House wanted a social worker for our case and we didn鈥檛 have a social worker, because we were all just fast paced.鈥�
In response, family and friends as well as the Tisdale Lions, Arborfield Elks and Geo Electric in Arborfield pitched together money for her medical expenses.
Kaylynn said it felt overwhelming to have community come together for them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice and it鈥檚 overwhelming, because I鈥檓 a stubborn person, I just try to do everything, so it鈥檚 been really nice to have a community. There has been some community members come forward to us, asking what kind of meals we would be interested in and stuff like that.鈥�
鈥淚t was enough to get us there and back and we have some saved too for medical trips because we have to go to Saskatoon every month for testing.鈥�
At Edmonton, the family saw Dr. Mark Greve.
Paige had persistent fetal vasculature (PFV) and neovascular glaucoma (NVG). PFV is a rare congenital developmental anomaly of the eye and NVG is a severe form of secondary glaucoma. Both cause serious vision problems.聽
聽鈥淒r. Mark Greve said that Paige probably had congenital eye malformation which is a birth defect. Congenital eye malformation is where the veins of the eye did not recede back during development and have now pulled the retina off her eye. There is a lot of scar tissue in her eye from this happening. Her right eye [the bad one] is smaller than her left eye due to this happening.鈥�
Greve鈥檚 hope was he could remove some scar tissue and reattach the retina, but Paige will likely never have full sight out of that eye. She would most likely only be able to see light. If everything goes as planned the eye will be able to look normal to everyone and not cause her pain. If it doesn鈥檛 stop causing her pain, they would remove her eye.
鈥淲hat they were trying to do with the surgery is reattach the retina and try to drain the blood and fluid out of her eye.鈥�
Fast forward to November.
While the pressure in Paige鈥檚 eye is still high, she still has it with limited light sensitivity.
鈥淲e had a follow up for Paige in Saskatoon on Nov. 7 with Dr. Vasudha Erraguntla. Dr. Vasudha Erraguntla is happy with how her eye looks after the procedure. The pressure in her right eye was at 31,鈥� Kaylynn said.
That鈥檚 much higher than the pressure in her healthy eye, but it鈥檚 significantly lower than it was, with it being 62 in Edmonton.
鈥淒r. Vasudha Erraguntla didn鈥檛 know how much the laser treatment has decreased the pressure and how much of the decrease is due to the drops. They would like the pressure to be below 21 in the end. Her left eye pressure is between 14 to 18 depending how worked up she is. We will be continuing with the two eye drops that we have and added another one to ease the friction on her eye. There is still blood in her eye which may never go or her body may absorb it.鈥�
Paige now has to have pressure testing once a month with every other month in Saskatoon and the rest in Tisdale.
鈥淒r. Vasudha Erraguntla said it could take months to get the pressure down to where it should be. No doctor knows how the treatment will work or how long it will take to take full effect as there hasn鈥檛 been any research for this with an eye that didn鈥檛 develop at all.聽 Dr. Vasudha Erraguntla said that Paige鈥檚 right eye [bad eye] could shrink in size as the pressure decreases which then we would look at placing a prosthetic over her eye to make them look the same or a covering over her eye to prevent friction so her eye isn鈥檛 irritated as much.鈥�
Now, at one year old, Paige is as happy as any one year old is, receiving monthly tests to make sure her eye pressure is low enough to prevent migraines.
聽鈥淪he鈥檚 normally happy, she鈥檚 walking around, tiny,鈥� Kaylynn said. 鈥淧retty normal one year old type of stuff. And I always think it鈥檚 unfortunate that it has happened to her but at least it鈥檚 at a young age where she doesn鈥檛 know the difference. Because if she was an adult and lost an eye she would know the difference.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e on two drops in the morning and three drops at night,鈥� Kaylynn said. 鈥淎 huge thank you to everyone who has helped us and supported us.鈥�
